As a small business owner, you can find yourself wrapped up in day-to-day operational details – and overcoming day-to-day challenges. But what about issues like financing options, long-range planning, marketing strategy and developing new services? Those efforts might fall to the background because you don’t have time to handle them yourself, the funds to hire someone else to handle them, or even the connections to find someone qualified to help you.
But there’s no reason for you to go it alone. Expert, free advice is available throughout the country from SCORE and SBDC.
Learning the SCORE
SCORE is a nonprofit association in which more than 11,200 retired and working business professionals volunteer to help entrepreneurs. SCORE was started in 1964 as the Service Corps of Retired Executives. Today, its name and acronym are one in the same, and the organization operates 370 offices in cooperation with the U.S. Small Business Administration.
SCORE counselors come from varied backgrounds and real-world experience. Some have been executives or managers at major corporations while others have owned their own businesses. Areas of expertise include finance, accounting and sales. All have been trained by the organization. SCORE volunteers donated more than 1.4 million hours to serve 444,723 new clients in the fiscal year ending in September 2010.
So, how does this work?
Let’s say you’ve had success with septic service or industrial cleaning and you’d like to diversify into portable sanitation or pipe-bursting. Trouble is, you’re not sure if you can take the financial leap to get the equipment and staff necessary to add new services.
Through SCORE, you can arrange a face-to-face session with a counselor for advice on things like cash flow management and financial projections. You also can submit questions via the organization’s website (www.score.org) where they will be reviewed and answered by an expert within 48 hours. The service is free and all information discussed is strictly confidential.
Other opportunities
In addition to counseling, local SCORE offices host workshops and seminars aimed at new and existing small businesses. Fees are generally $20 to $75. The programs, scheduled throughout the year, cover an array of topics. For example, the Western Massachusetts SCORE office held a workshop on “Business Planning and Cash Flow.” Meanwhile, Portland, Ore., SCORE workshops covered time management, website marketing and finding new customers.
SCORE also has an online community (www.scorecommunity.org) to bring together small business operators. Participants can join discussions, post business opportunities, search for vendors, read how-to articles or list their information in a business directory.
More than 2,000 pages of content, including business articles, templates, workbooks and other self-help tools are available on the SCORE website. To find a local SCORE office, call 800/634-0245, visit www.score.org or email the name of your city and state to contact.score@sba.gov.
To school with SBDC
Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) are hosted by colleges,
universities and state economic development agencies. The 1,000 centers located in all 50 states provide free business consulting and low-cost training. Overall, SBDC offices serve a million small business owners each year.
Your local SBDC is a good place to turn if you’d like help writing a business plan, locating new sources of capital or getting details on your state and local business regulations.
For example, if you’re considering expansion through offering a new service or acquisition of a company, you can schedule a free face-to-face meeting with a local SBDC staff member. The SBDC staffer can suggest strategies you can use, put you in touch with experts who have faced the same challenges as you, or recommend courses or workshops.
SBDC focuses on education. Seminars and workshops on many topics are offered through the SBDC offices. Prices for half- and full-day seminars generally run from $40 to $100.
A recent review of local SBDC calendars includes a construction cost seminar in San Antonio, Texas; a QuickBooks workshop in Duluth, Minn., and a workshop on marketing and networking strategies in Lewisburg, Pa. The seminars and workshops are held on campuses, at government offices and other easily accessible locations.
The SBDC education focus carries through to its national website (www.asbdc-us.org) where visitors can read the Small Business Digest containing articles by business experts, view webinars and find links to dozens of business-related websites. From the main page, click on “Resources.”
American’s Small Business Development Center Network is the starting point for developing working relationships with all local offices. Visit the SBDC website and enter your ZIP code to locate an SBDC near you.
Getting started
Of course you can’t present a SCORE volunteer or SBDC staff member with a laundry list of business chores and expect to tackle them all at once. Select one long-range issue – a company marketing strategy, for example – and present it to a representative from one of these organizations. They will guide you through the process and once the goal is met – and you know how you will be spending your advertising dollars for the next three years – you’ll feel such a sense of accomplishment and relief you’ll have them bookmarked as your go-to team for answers to all your long-range planning issues.
